Simon Adler’s chest heaved. As the elevator descended, he quickly pulled out his phone and sent a message to Mia Grant.

There was no immediate reply.

He frowned, hesitated for a second, then dialed her number and put the phone to his ear.

The call hadn’t connected yet when the elevator arrived on the first floor.

A bewildered Lee followed after Simon Adler.

The lobby was brilliantly lit, and the marble floor reflected the magnificent light, making the manor feel even more like a palace.

The moment the call connected, Lee spotted a figure on the staircase and quietly called out to Simon Adler.

Simon turned and met the gaze of the person upstairs.

There was no telling how long the man on the second floor had been watching. Simon Adler took a deep breath, listening to the voice on the other end of the line, incredibly relieved he hadn’t spoken a moment sooner.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Hello?"

"Anyone there?"

"Why call if you’re not going to talk?"

"Just a second," Simon Adler’s voice suddenly cut in. Mia Grant went quiet, blinking in confusion, wondering what he was up to.

Then, she heard a conversation through the phone.

Simon Adler spoke first.

"When did you get back? Right behind me?"

He hadn’t noticed Silas Grant’s car nearby when he’d gotten out.

"I was going to catch a ride with you, but you left too quickly."

The man’s tone was resigned, and he didn’t sound angry. In fact, he sounded rather relaxed.

The owner of that voice...

Mia Grant’s grip on her phone tightened, and she looked up slightly.

It was Silas Grant.

She couldn’t be mistaken.

"I was going to say hi, but you went straight upstairs after you got out of the car. What for?"

"Went back to my room to drop something off."

"Did you need me for something?" Simon Adler didn’t move.

Silas Grant stood smiling by the railing, looking down on him. He didn’t answer the question, instead asking one of his own. "Calling your girlfriend?"

For a moment, the people on both ends of the line held their breath.

A moment later, Mia Grant heard Simon Adler give a quiet affirmation, not denying it.

"How sweet," Silas Grant said with a smile.

"I’ll call you back later." Simon Adler threw out the sentence and quickly hung up.

For someone as smart as Mia Grant, that was more than enough information.

Upstairs, the second the call disconnected, Mia Grant threw off the covers and got out of bed.

Across from her, Hayes Hughes had no idea what was going on. He just saw her quickly lift the hem of her shirt as if to take it off.

His eyes landed on the sliver of her fair waist, and his pupils contracted. He immediately spun around, presenting the back of a man in hasty retreat.

Mia Grant, who had forgotten he was there, quickly changed her clothes, grabbed her phone, and made to run.

"Mia."

Hearing his voice, Mia Grant finally remembered Hayes Hughes. She turned, looking as if she’d just found her savior, and rushed forward to grab his sleeve.

"Hayes! My brother’s here! I can’t let him know I’m in Portia, at the Hughes’ house. He must have heard you were back, that’s why he came."

Hayes Hughes quickly processed the information she’d given him. "All right, you stay in the room. I’ll go downstairs."

"Okay!"

With Hayes Hughes handling it, Mia Grant breathed a small sigh of relief.

But she was also worried Silas Grant would find her room...

’Hayes Hughes could get in, so why couldn’t Silas?’

At that thought, she ran a hand through her hair, forgetting her appearance entirely. Ignoring the dull ache in her lower abdomen, she began a frantic cleanup.

Suddenly, a ringtone blared through the room, making her jump. The dessert in her hand went SPLAT on the floor, smashing to bits.

She winced.

’What a waste. I hadn’t even taken a bite...’

The phone continued to ring insistently. Mia Grant, who was sitting on the carpet, crawled to the edge of the bed to grab it and glanced at the caller ID.

It was Simon Adler again.

She answered but hesitated to speak first this time.

"Still upstairs?"

"Yeah. Is my brother gone?"

"No, he went back to his room to change."

"Oh, then..."

"Don’t stay in your room."

"I know, but where am I supposed to go?"

Simon Adler paused for a few seconds. "...Go to Hayes Hughes’s room."

"But Hayes’s room is on the same floor as my brother’s. Won’t I run into him?"

Mia Grant was a little worried.

Simon Adler frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "Then go to my room. It’s diagonally across from yours."

"..."

There was a moment of silence on the line.

"Otherwise, you can just stay in the storage room next door for the night."

"Is your room locked?"

"No, I just had Lee put the food inside."

"Get inside and don’t come out."

Mia Grant hesitated for a moment, then answered, "Okay."

After quickly cleaning up the mess on the floor, Mia Grant grabbed her bag and a change of clothes and fled.

Simon Adler’s room had the same layout and size as hers, but the decor wasn’t quite as feminine.

She stared at the large bed in the middle of the room for a long moment and decided that someone might have to be uncomfortable, but it wasn’t going to be her.

Besides, she was on her period.

’It was Simon Adler who brought her here, so he had a responsibility to see things through.’

The more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Mia Grant put her clothes away, then threw Simon Adler’s comforter and pillow onto the sofa.

’She’d already checked. The sofa was long enough for him.’

When Simon Adler came up, Mia Grant was eating.

The second he pushed open the door, the aroma of food wafted from the room.

A vein in Simon Adler’s temple throbbed. He hated it when people ate in their rooms.

Especially in his room.

But these were special circumstances, and he was the one who’d told her to eat.

’Whatever. Just let it go.’

’Just bear with it.’

Hearing him enter, Mia Grant looked up. Her cheeks were puffed out like a little hamster’s as she chewed, looking at him. "Crisis averted?"

"What do you think?" Simon Adler shot a look at the figure on the carpet, his expression a mixture of exasperation and disdain. "Couldn’t you sit on the sofa to eat?"

"Nope." Mia Grant put down her utensils and explained, "That’s your bed. I was afraid of getting it dirty."

’Bed?’

Simon Adler turned his head. His gaze fell upon the bundle of bedding on the sofa, and the corner of his mouth twitched violently.

"You want me to sleep on the sofa?"

"You could also sleep on the floor."

"..."

For a long time, no one spoke. The only sound in the room was the faint noise of her eating.

He couldn’t tell what she was eating, but it was crunchy. All he could hear was a faint CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

’She really is like a hamster sneaking a snack.’

Under the chandelier, the man stood holding his jacket, one hand on his hip. He looked down and met her innocent eyes, then let out a resigned sigh.

"I must have owed the Grant Family in a past life."

"Hey," Mia Grant waved her hand dismissively. "I’m not one of the Grant Family."

"Isn’t your last name still Grant?"

"So what? Are they royalty or something? It’s the twenty-first century. It’s not like they have a monopoly on the name."

"..."

Simon Adler couldn’t be bothered to argue with her. He tossed his jacket on the sofa and loosened his tie, preparing to change into some loungewear.

"Where’s Hayes? Is he downstairs?"

The girl’s question came from outside the walk-in closet.

"Don’t know."

The blue-gray shirt was unbuttoned and tossed into the laundry hamper, revealing his lean waist in the full-length mirror.

Without a glance, he casually grabbed a set of clothes and prepared to head to the bathroom.

He paused. A thought occurred to him, and he took a few steps back to the closet door. "Don’t go out. And don’t open the door if someone knocks."

"What did you say?"

Mia Grant was replying to a message and wasn’t paying attention.

Taking a deep breath, Simon Adler walked out of the walk-in closet. "I said, don’t go out, don’t run around, and don’t open the door for strangers."

"..." Mia Grant blinked. Her gaze traveled slowly down from his fuming face, and she frowned. "Could you maybe put on some pants before you talk to me?"